Pb/Fe bilayers and Fe/Pb/Fe trilayers have been prepared by rf sputtering on (11 (2) over bar 0)-oriented sapphire substrates. The structural characterization of the films was carried out by small angle X-ray reflectivity measurements, wide angle X-ray Bragg-scans, and atomic force microscopy. Ferromagnetic resonance and electrical resistivity measurements are also reported. Tn order to optimize the growth conditions for the preparation of films with flat interfaces we used different growth rates and different substrate temperatures for the Ph-layer. We found that the optimal growth rate for Pb depends on the layer sequence of the samples, for Fe/Pb/Al2O3 bilayers the optimal growth rate is 1.4 Angstrom/s and for Fe/Pb/Fe/Al2O3 trilayers it is 0.7 Angstrom/s. In films starting with an Fe layer on sapphire, the Pb layer is polycrystalline. Growth of Pb directly on sapphire yields a (111)-texture orientation. Fe/Pb bilayers can be grown with very hat surfaces and interfaces, for Fe/Pb/Fe trilayers the roughness is definitely higher at the Fe/Pb interface.